New ways with flooring

Reclamation and design aficionados Retrouvius always hit the mark with their wonderful reinventions of neglected architectural bits and bobs – remember this? They’ve now expanded their Kensal Green warehouse to allow space for the first in a series of collaborative exhibitions, Off The Floor (21 September – 2 October). Designers Fabien Cappello and Daniel Heath have created their own pieces that reinterpret salvaged materials.

‘Within my usual studio practice I use the traditional process of screen printing, placing my imagery into repeat in order to produce lengths of wallpaper and fabric. When translating my imagery to be placed onto the hard surface of the drawer bottoms I began to investigate new processes, engineering the design to each individual piece of wood, meaning that there is no waste or off-cuts. Each piece reacts differently to the process because of the natural grain and the imperfections in the time-worn surface,’ Daniel Heath

This was once parquet on the assembly room floor of a school in north west London, until Fabien Cappello transformed it into a desk…

‘I viewed the material as an element to build with turning the flat surfaces of the parquet into a three-dimensional construction. I chose to work intuitively with the material and let the object build itself – even the finished piece can be expanded or equally dismantled and re-arranged into another object,’ Fabien Cappello.

We love. As well as these good wood pieces, the exhibition features furniture made from stone from the floor of Heathrow Terminal 3. Mo, deputy chief sub-editor

IPC Media

Got a great house?

We’re always looking for inspiring houses, full of clever design tricks, to feature in Livingetc. If you think your home is what we’re after, email pictures to our houses editor, mary_weaver@ipcmedia.com.